Oxford Team News

6 November 2014

CARL Magnay and Craig Disley are both doubts ahead of Saturday's FA Cup first round tie against Oxford United at Blundell Park.

Carl Magnay seemed to jar his knee and limped off during the last minutes of Tuesday's Vanarama Conference victory at Braintree. Town boss Paul Hurst will assess his fitness on Friday and may even do a late fitness test on Saturday. Paul said: “At this moment in time, Carl is looking doubtful.

“We’re not ruling him out but he’s certainly not declaring himself fit, so we’ll have to check on Friday. And, if needs be, we’ll have a fitness test on Saturday

“He must have caused a bit of damage to the ligament. The swelling is still there - he sometimes gets a bit of swelling in his knee after games anyway but it’s not gone down as yet.

“So we’ve been a little bit concerned and have been icing it and resting it as much as possible to give Carl the best chance of being back.

“We’ll assess it today and see where we’re at - but if he’s fit he’ll play,” the Town boss added.

But the Town gaffer is more confident that skipper Craig Disley will be fit to face the League Two side.

He said: “I think there’s still a bit of stiffness there for Diz, but he’s confident that he’ll be fit and available to me.

“He looked like he’d overstretched and maybe jarred his knee but I think it was more of a dead leg in the end.

“We’re okay other than that, and Scott Brown of course, and in general the squad is in pretty healthy shape.”

Harry Pell is the Mariners' only other absentee - the AFC Wimbledon loanee isn't allowed to play for Town in the FA Cup competition.